Brake beam safety support



MEE L W@ L. W. MASS 2,5@59974 BRAKE BEAM SAFETY SUPPORT Eiledlvfay 15,1947 E 2 sheets-sheet 1 A.. W. lKAss 2,5%?974 BRAKE BEAM SAFETY SUPPORTFilm may 15, 1947 7 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 2, 1950 BRAKE BEAMSAFETY SUPPORT Lawrence W. Kass, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Grip NutCompany, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application May 15,1947, Serial No. 748,173

6 Claims.

This invention relates to brake beam safety supports and its principalobject is the provision of a novel bracket for connecting the brakebeams of brake rigging with a certain positioning rod. In its presentform the bracket is adapted for use in connection with several standardmakes of brake beams.

As is Well known in many standard car trucks the brake beams aredisposed between the front and rear wheels of a truck and are suspendedby hangers swingably mounted on the truck frame. Brake actuatingmechanism is connected to the brake beams and functions to set andrelease the brake, but as the actuating mechanism forms no part of thisinvention it has not been illustrated and will not be described.

Another object is the provision of a safety support for brake beamswhich safely supports the brake beam in the event of failure of a hangeror other supporting means.

Another object is to provide a bracket which can be applied to achanneled compression member or one of U-shape in cross section, andalso can be applied to round tension rod or to a tension rod ofrectangular cross section.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of thisspecication, and with said objects and advantages in view this inventionconsists in the several novel features of construction, arrangement andcombination of parts hereinafter fully set forth and more definitelypointed out in the appended claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the drawings accompanying thisspecication in which:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and g partly in verticallongitudinal section taken along the line I-I of Fig. 2, of a brake beamsafety support embodying a simple form of the present invention andshowing the same applied to a car truck, which is partly broken away;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in plan and partly in horizontal section of thebrake beam safety support seen in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in verticallongitudinal section through the bracket and showing the same applied toa diierent form of brake beam;

Fig. 4 is a view partly in plan and partly in horizontal section of theparts seen in Fig. 3; Y

Fig. 5 is a View partly in side elevation and 2 partly in verticallongitudinal section through the bracket and showing the same applied toanother kind of brake beam;

Fig. 6 is a detail enlarged plan of the bracket;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the bracket looking in the direction of thearrow 'I in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a fragmental view partly in plan and partly in horizontalsection showing the bracket applied to another kind of brake beam; and

Fig. 9 is a vertical section through a modied form of bracket.

Referring to said drawings and rst to Figs. 1 and 2, the referencecharacter I0 designates a fragment of one of the bolsters of a railwaycar truck; I I designates a fragment of one of the Wheels; I2 designatesone of the brake heads: with its brake shoe; and I3 designates one ofthe hangers for the brake beam. The hangers are each swingably carriedby a member of a truck frame 9 and connected to the brake heads in theusual manner. A fragment of a brake beam is seen at I4 and is secured tothe brake heads, one of which is illustrated. As is usual the brake beamis composed of a compression member I5 and a tension member I6 united tothe brake heads. In the form of brake beam illustrated in Figs. l and 2the compression member I5 is in the form of a channel member and thetension member is in the form of a round rod, which extends at asuitable angle to the compression member as is customary. It is to beunderstood that the brake beam, the brake head and the hanger areduplicated on the other side of the bolster as is customary. The partsabove described are standard equipment of railway cars and require nofurther description so far as this specification is concerned.

interposed between the compression and tension members adjacent eachhanger I3, is a bracket I1 preferably composed of a single piece, havingan upstanding wall IB at one end of the body I'Ia from which rises anarrower wall I9, which terminates in a horizontally extending flange 2uthat is arranged to lie upon the compression member I5. Desirably, ribs2| are formed on the wall I9 and ange 2n for the purpose of giving addedstrength and rigidity thereto. The other end of the body of the bracketI'I is formed with an upwardly `curved wall 22 and between the Walls 18,22 the lbody is'formedwith an intermediate upstanding wall 23. Betweenthe walls 22, 23 is formed a round groove 24, which extends at the sameangle to the compression member l as the tension member I6 extends withrespect thereto, and the tension member is adapted to lie in said groove24. Between the walls I8 and 23 is a horizontal groove 25, ofrectangular cross section which extends at the same angle to thecompression member as the groove 2li extends with respect thereto.

The groove is intended to accommodate the bracket to brake beams inwhich a tension member 26 of rectangular cross section is employed as isclearly seen in Figs; 3 and 4.

In the main portion of the body of the hanger is formed an opening 21,which extends length- Wise of the body and is adapted to receive avpositioning rod 28 located below the bolster Ill and extending throughthe bodies oi the two brackets at one side of the truck frame. pressionsprings, one of which is seen at 29, surround the positioning rod andare interposed between one end of each bracket body and a nut 3Dthreadedly mounted upon the extreme end of the rod. The spring iscompressed when the brakes are applied and functions to aid in releasingthe brakes.

An auxiliary support, here shown in the form of a U-shaped loopv 32,secured to a member' of the truck, such as the bolster lil, providesmeans to support the positioning rod and therewith the brake beam, incase of failure of a hanger or `failurev of some' other connectionbetween the brake beam and truck frame.

In some standard braking mechanisms the compression member is in theform of a bar |5a, U-shaped in cross section (see Fig. 5), and toaccommodate the bracket Il to such form of compression bar the wall I8of the bracket body is formed with two spaced horizontally extendingribs 3l and vertically extending ribs 3Ia that extend from the end walland enter the channel of the U-shap'ed compression bar 15a.

In some types of brake beams the tension member is ih the form of a flatbar 2Gb (see Fig. 8) which extends at an angle to the compression memberi5 and at its end extremities is bent to extend' parallel with thecompression member as at 26e. The tension member is riveted, or

otherwise rigidly secured to the compression member, and each obliqueportion lies in the groove 25 of the casting I1.

In the modified form of casting illustrated in Fig; 9 the' main bodyportion llo is arranged to rest upon the compression member I5 and isformed with the hole 21a through lwhich the positioning rod (not shown)extends. From the main body of the' casting extends a horizontal flangellc which terminates in an upright web 23a the lower end of whichterminates in two branches, one forming a ilange 22a, substantiallysemi-circular in cross section, and thev other formsa horizontal ilangeIld which cooperates with the flange I'lc' to receive between them atension member 26a of rectangular cross section. The flange Hd is formedwith a rectangular groove I'Ie in its upper face to receive the loweredge of the tension member and the ange Hc is formed with an uprightwall I'If vertically aligned with the wall 11g of the flange Hd. TheVgroove 24a of the flange 22a is intended to receive av round tensionrod whenever` this type of bracket is used in with a brake beamemploying a "round tension rod.

The positioning rod functions in the same Coiled com- 4 manner as doesthe positioning rod shown in the other figures and it is adapted to besupported by loops (not shown), or by a member of the car truck in anydesirable manner.

This modified form of bracket also is capable of use with brake beams ofvarious types.

In the operation of the safety support, the` brakes are applied andreleased as is customary. In case of failure of a hanger or otherconnection between the truck frame and brake beam,.the positioning rod28 drops upon the looped portion of the auxiliary support 32 andsupports the brake beam until the necessary repairs have been made.

From the above it is apparent that I have provided a bracket, which iscapable of use with several forms of brake beams. This avoids thenecessity of keeping in stock several kinds of brackets, as the one typewill serve the purpose for several of the standard makes of brake beams.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing fromthe spirit of my invention; hence, I do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement andcombination of parts herein shown and described or uses mentioned.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A bracket for use with brake beam safety supports, comprising asingle piece body formed with a horizontal lange at one end adapted torest upon the channeled compressionmember of a brake beam, said bracketbeing also formed with two horizontally extending grooves in the upperYface of the body, which grooves extend at an angle to the compressionmember, one of said grooves being curved in cross section and the otherbeing rectangular in cross section, and said body having a holeextending parallel with vthe length or the body and adapted to receive apositioning rod. e

2. A bracket for use with brake beam safety supports, comprising a singepiece body formed with a horizontal flange at one end adapted to restupon the channeled compression member of a brake beam, and below lsaidflange formed with horizontally extending ribs adapted to engage in thechannel of a U-shaped compression member, said bracket being also formedwith two hori-4 zontally extending grooves in itsupper face which extendat an angle to the compression member, one of which grooves is arrangedto receive a round tension member and the'otler of which is arranged toreceive a tension member of rectangular cross section and there being ahole in said body extending parallel with the length thereof and adaptedto receive a positioning rod.

3. A bracket for use with brake beam safety supports, comprising asingle piece body formed with a horizontal flange at one end adapted torest upon the channeled compression member of a brake beam, and belowsaid ange formed with two parallel horizontally extending ribs adaptedto engage in the channel of a U'shaped compression member, said bracketVbeing also formed with two horizontally extending grooves in its upperface which extend'at an angle to the compression member, one of-whichgrooves is roundvand arranged to receive a round tension member and theother of which is rectangular in cross section and arranged to receiveatension member' of rectangular cross section and there being a hole insaid body extending parallelwith the length thereof and adapted toreceive a positioning rod.

4. A bracket for use with brake beam safety supports, comprising asingle piece body formed with an upstanding Wall at one end terminatingin a horizontal liange adapted to rest upon the channeled compressionmember of a brake beam, and below said flange formed with horizontallyextending ribs adapted t0 engage in the channel 0f a U-shapedcompression member, said bracket being also formed with two horizontallyextending grooves in its upper face which extend at an angle to thecompression member, one of which grooves is round and arranged toreceive a round tension member and the other of which is arranged toreceive a tension member of rectangular cross section and there being ahole in said body below said grooves extending parallel with the lengththereof and adapted to receive a positioning rod.

5. A bracket for use with a brake beam safety support, comprising asingle piece formed with a body portion having a hole therethrough toreceive a positioning rod, and formed with Walls, one shaped to form asemi-circular groove and the other shaped to form a groove ofrectangular form extending approximately parallel with the semi-circulargroove, the semi-circular groove oeing adapted to receive a roundtensioning rod and the rectangular groove being adapted to receive atension rod of rectangular cross section.

6. A bracket for use with a brake beam safetyI support, comprising asingle piece formed with a body adapted to rest upon the compressionmember of a brake beam, said body having a hole therethrough to receivea positioning rod, a horizontal flange projecting laterally from saidbody and terminating in a vertical web which is formed at its lower endwith two oppositely directed branches, one of which is approximatelysemi-circular in cross section adapted to receive a round tensioningmember, and the other branch of which is formed with a groove ofrectangular cross section adapted to receive a tensioning member ofrectangular cross section.

LAWRENCE W.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are or" record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,976,694 Anderson Oct. 9, 19342,142,417 Sale Jan. 3, 1939 2,252,221 Van Cleave et al. Aug. 21, 1941

